The production of woven fabrics having varied colors and/or patterns has long been desired, with many different methods of manufacture being used to achieve these results. For example, in some implementations, a loom is provided with numerous spools of thread, with each spool containing thread of a specific color that may be selected and interwoven into the fabric where desired. In other implementations, a woven fabric may have a color, image, or pattern printed directly on a surface of the fabric to achieve a desired look.
In regard to weaving methods using numerous spools of different colored threads, the number of color combinations and the patterns achievable are limited by the number of distinct spools. For example, if a pattern to be woven requires 30 different colors, 30 different spools containing those colors must be accessible. As such, the spatial requirements of the loom increase based on the number of color options available, and the possible color variations are limited by the number of different colored thread spools. Furthermore, with each change in thread color, the motion of the weft thread shuttle is interrupted in order to apply the chosen color, thereby slowing production of the fabric and increasing the manufacturing costs. Additionally, while the weft threads may vary, the warp threads are often limited to a single color and/or a single pattern, thus limiting the possible color variations and/or patterns of a fabric produced by such a method.
As noted above, some implementations print various colors and/or patterns directly on a surface of the woven fabric. However, while printing directly on the surface of the fabric may overcome some of the limitations in color choice present in systems using different colored threads, there are still several drawbacks to printing on woven fabrics. One issue of such a system may involve the wicking of ink along the fibers of the fabric immediately after printing, which may degrade the quality of the image or other printed pattern. Another issue relates to the fact that the image or pattern is printed only on one side of the fabric, and adheres only to one surface of the fabric. Thus, if the fibers of the fabric move or stretch in any way, the quality of the image or pattern may degrade and/or become distorted. Furthermore, because the various colors of the image or pattern are only on one surface of the fabric (rather than surrounding, or being absorbed by, the fibers), the printed image or pattern may only be visible from one side of the fabric, and may be subject to wear over time.
Accordingly, there is a need for a system capable of producing woven fabrics with varied colors and/or patterns which addresses the issues described above.